Microfluidics-driven high-throughput phenotyping and screening in synthetic biology: from single cells to cell-free systems

• Published in: Biotechnology and bioprocess engineering Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 25 - 33
• Main Authors: Kim, Taeok, Ko, Minji, Rha, Eugene, Kim, Haseong, Lee, Hyewon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering 01.02.2024; Springer Nature B.V; 한국생물공학회
• Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Automation; Biocatalysts; Bioengineering; Biological products; Biology; Biosensors; Biotechnology; Cells; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; droplets; Enzymes; Genetic engineering; Human error; Industrial and Production Engineering; Industrial development; Industrial engineering; industry; Interdisciplinary aspects; Libraries; Manufacturing engineering; microfluidic technology; Microfluidics; Microorganisms; phenotype; Phenotyping; Processing speed; Review Paper; Screening; Synthetic biology; 생물공학; High-throughput screening; Synthetic biology; Biofoundry; Microfluidics
• ISSN: 1226-8372; 1976-3816
• DOI: 10.1007/s12257-024-00016-6

The interdisciplinary nature of synthetic biology merges engineering principles with biology and provides innovative solutions for issues in the biomanufacturing industry. To develop industrially applicable biocatalysts and/or microbial cell factories, a design-build-test-learn cycle-based iterative process is necessary, which is often time-consuming and labor-intensive. The integration of microfluidic technologies into synthetic biology can accelerate these processes, particularly for achieving high-throughput phenotyping and screening. In this review, we examine the potential of microfluidic technologies to revolutionize synthetic biology. Although commercial microfluidics demonstrate superior throughput for single-cell assays, their application can be limited, for example, in cases where products are retained inside the cells. Droplet microfluidics, on the other hand, is a rather flexible platform and shows high diversity in single-cell, cell-to-cell interaction-based, and cell-free reaction-based analyses. By examining previous studies, we have summarized the potential of microfluidic technologies to foster sustainable biomanufacturing and advanced biological engineering.